Cary. There was No There There.

For decades, the Town of Cary was just considered a suburb of Raleigh. It is in Wake County between Morrisville and Apex, but two corners reach into Durham and Chatham Counties. Cary High School was the first publicly funded school in the state in 1907. Now a city of 180,000 people, it has grown to stand on its own. In 1960, the population was only 3,356, which shows the explosive growth in recent years. The downtown area now has a regional library, churches, hotel, shops, bars & restaurants, an Amtrak station, Town Hall, and Arts Center. The new Downtown Park caps off the 20 parks in the town.

Sports facilities include the Prestonwood Country Club, the Wake Med Soccer Center, and 15 soccer fields. The Soccer Center is home to the professional NC Courage team. The Triangle Aquatic Center hosted training for the U.S. Olympic Swimming team before they left for Paris. The US Baseball Headquarters and National Training Center are located here. Jordan Lake is located just west of the town’s boundaries. The town includes two amphitheaters, one of which is the summer home of the North Carolina Symphony. The three community centers offer a variety of programs and activities. The two big entertainment events are the Dragon Boat Festival and Chinese Lantern Festival that draw thousands of visitors.

The SAS National Headquarters is located here, the campus of which also includes the 5-star Umstead Hotel. Cotton Incorporated, the marketing and research center of the industry is located here. The Amtrak Station has four trains a day running between Raleigh and Charlotte as well as bus service to the RDU airport and downtown Raleigh. It provides free parking, compared to $18 per day in Raleigh. I-40 connects to the Research Triangle Park (RTP), the home of many technology companies.

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